Denmark: Fresh openings for Red-Green Alliance as it marks 25 years

May 24, 2014 -- Green Left Weekly -- Denmark's Red-Green Alliance (RGA) marked 25 years since its founding at a national conference on May 16 to 18, 2014. A radical left unity project marking 25 years in existence is itself a
cause for celebration, but this conference was able to celebrate much
more. After about 20 years as a fringe party in Danish politics, the RGA
has recently emerged as a significant force.

In elections in 2011, the party tripled its presence in parliament
from four seats to 12, jumping from 2.2% to 6.7% of the vote. In last
year’s municipal elections, the RGA hugely expanded its presence,
winning representatives in almost all municipality and regional
councils.

And the RGA is set to expand further in parliamentary elections in
September. It is polling at about 11%, making it potentially the
fourth-largest force in Danish politics.

With the growth in influence, scope and members, this year’s congress
was largely focused on making steps to become a mass party of the left.

A key discussion was over the party’s program. At last year's
congress, delegates voted to start a process of writing a new program
for the party. While retaining the group's essential politics, the aim was for a new
program to be written in a style and language more easily accessible to
people not familiar with Marxist politics. RGA executive member Pia
Boisen said: “We want this program to be readable by a young boy in the
countryside, or an ordinary worker in the city.”

After a six-month period of discussion, two drafts were debated at
this year's congress. Further amendments were made before a new program
was adopted with a resounding majority.

At the same time as clarifying the democratic nature of the socialism
that the RGA supports, the new program maintains a commitment to
anti-capitalist politics, revolutionary transformation, an ecological
vision, and social and international solidarity.

The new program is only 10 pages long, and is accompanied by three
partial programmatic documents dealing specifically with women’s rights,
the environment and the European Union.

Debates about the program centred on a couple of key issues, such as
the nature of the state under capitalism, how to relate to the welfare
state and what position to take with regard to NATO-led interventions.

As well as a new program, the conference adopted a “work plan” for
the next period. This plan emphasises the importance of strengthening
work in the municipal and regional branches, many of which have only
recently been set up after electoral victories.

The conference voted that at least one-third of party employees
should be based in regional areas. Until now, all party workers have
been based in Copenhagen.

The plan also outlined the need to strengthen the party, activate
more new members, build a militant union network and step up
international work.

With the European elections one week after the conference, a lot of
discussion centred on the role of the EU and the RGA’s anti-EU stance.

The RGA works within the People’s Movement Against the EU coalition,
which will run a slate of candidates at the coming election. Many
candidates are also members of the RGA. The People’s Movement is
currently polling around 7.2% and looks set to keep its one seat in the
European parliament.

The RGA has been criticised by other left-wing parties in the EU for
its anti-EU stance, but it says it is a question of self-determination.

Soren Sondergaard, People’s Movement representative in the European
parliament from 2007-14, says the EU is not a democratic structure and
cannot be reformed.

One issue that was frequently discussed in relation to the EU was
“social dumping”. Corporations in Denmark are increasingly employing
cheaper immigrant labour (often from Eastern Europe), putting pressure
on wages in general.

Due to EU structures, unions are handicapped in their ability to
respond. The bosses are pressuring the government to extend more social
benefits to migrants as a way of enticing them over, while they can keep
wages down.

The RGA is organising campaigns against this, saying migrants should
indeed receive full state support, but should also be paid full Danish
wages.

They see leaving the EU as part of this fight.

Regardless of the debate over the strategic merits of advocating an
exit from the EU or seeking to reform it, the RGA’s commitments to
anti-capitalist politics, a truly ecological vision of society and
international solidarity were clear from the conference.

With a growing right-wing populist current in Denmark, the
strengthening and expansion of the RGA could play an important role in
turning public opinion towards more just, humane answers to the
country’s problems.